Family, Lies, and Murder
by Bleeding Scar
Summary: Maura Isles gets a note from Hope Martin showing that she wasn't Maura's mother at all. The next day, a body is found at the RMV Boston's Department of Motor Vehices . Will this revelation impact the team? How will the case impact the Rizzoli family dynamic?
1. Prologue The Letter

Maura Isles settled down into her couch at the guest house to read her mail. Angela was out doing some cooky function. Her mother had written her a letter, which was an antiquated art but Maura loved it. Even her mother's handwriting reminded of her own. She took a sip of the Merlot before she began to read the letter. By the time she finished the first paragraph, she knew that work on Monday would be difficult if anyone died.

* * *

"Dear Maura,

You should probably sit down to read this, if you haven't already. I must apologize for everything you have been through, looking for your mother. I am not your mother, but I understand why you think I am. You were never supposed to figure out that Paddy Doyle was your father. You were never supposed to find out about the time Paddy and I spent together. You definitely were not supposed to find out about me. That's the thing about Doyles. They, including you, are never to be underestimated.

I assumed it did not matter though. I knew, being the compassionate soul you are, that you would try to be the match for my daughter's kidney. You were supposed to fail though. Then you would drop this and go back to square one.

I do not know who your real mother is but I have a suspicion. Paddy was a wild man before we met, and still was after. I grew up. He did not. We started "dating" back in the year before you were born. I found out he was sleeping with someone else, so I had my own fling. It wasn't the most rational response and I am not proud of it.

When I found out I was pregnant, I thought it was Paddy's but the father was actually the fling. I found out because the child had a rare illness that is nowhere in the Paddy line and is common in his line. The child actually did die soon after birth.

Paddy thought he was giving our child away. I agreed to swap the children out with another mother. She was alone. She said that she wanted nothing to do with the baby's father. The father was a criminal mastermind but she didn't find that out until it was too late. I rolled my eyes at the time because I was self-absorbed and assumed Paddy told me the truth. I never thought to ask her the name of who the father was. After all, Paddy claimed he did not get the woman he was seeing pregnant.

Of course he would say that to me. That would protect her, in case anyone wanted to hurt her to get to him. Paddy was always paranoid like that. I apologize for freaking out like that but I just couldn't admit to what I had done. I couldn't admit to what I had done in front of Cailin. I will need to now. I was hoping to never have that conversation.

Just so you know there was no double switch, I took a hair of yours from the bathroom the other night. There was no familial match to me and I attached the results. I apologize for telling you like this, but I am not nearly as brave as you are. I guess I am like you though. It is much easier to deal with the dead than the living.

I still hope we can be civil colleagues with each other whenever I am in Boston. Whenever you need help, I will be there. I also have attached a sketch of your mother many years ago. I drew it that night, just in case. She said her name was Amanda but that she would have to change it so the father would never find her. So you are looking for someone who did not exist in the system until after you were born.

I do not expect you to call me anytime soon. This is a lot to process. You may never forgive me, but I could never forgive myself if I kept leading you on.

Best wishes,

Hope Martin"

* * *

After finishing the letter, Maura Isles sat on the couch staring into space for the next five to ten minutes. Thoughts would not even come to her head. Just when she thinks she has found who she is, she is back to square one. All the evidence pointed to Hope being her mother.

Maura laughed while scolding herself. Just because people have things in common does not make them family. Some relatives have nothing in common. Some have everything in common. Having things in common has more to do with brain chemistry than genetic makeup sometimes and environment can have a huge impact on brain chemistry. Reinforcement determines what we like and what we're good at. That reinforcement eventually alters the brain chemistry.

Both Maura and Hope, she reasoned, got reinforced for being geeks and punished for trying to be social. Maura got rewarded for appreciating the finer things, which probably results in the quirks of wearing high heels to crime scenes. Just like Jane got reinforcement from her father for being strong and independent. Her mother, Angela, tried to make her more feminine but just wound up yelling.

The rest of the night Maura hardly remembers. She finished off the bottle of wine, hoping to make the letter just a horrible, alcohol-induced, dream.


	2. Chapter 1 The Scene of the Crime

Jane Rizzoli smiled when she arrived at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Normally, Jane would rather be in a beauty pageant than be at the RMV. Yet, today there was a homicide at the RMV. So Jane could make the RMV work around her schedule. She could make them wait hours and hours. She could make them wait hours and hours to talk to someone cold and calculating. Someone cold and calculating who believed they were an idiot. Oh Jane would love today.

The corpse had a wallet on him but no money and no identification. The wallet was just placed on his chest, as if it was an afterthought. Jane dusted it for a print but came up empty. So she bagged it and continued on with the examination.

Then, Maura Isles stumbled in wearing sunglasses at about nine in the morning. Her whole appearance was atypical. She was in sweatpants and flats. Her hair was going every which way. Makeup looked like something Maura never touched before, rather than the typical layers she usually wore. "You know, there is the option to take a day off."

"And leave you with Pike… never." Maura grumbled. "Can you keep your voices down? My head hurts a little bit."

"Looks like someone had a little bit too much last night." Barry Frost snickered, which drew a laugh from Vince Korsak. "You ok?"

Maura nodded as she continued examining the body. "This was a crime of passion. Nothing was planned. The murder weapon, a tape recorder, was left on the victim. Of course, the tape is missing and the antique device is broken. So there's no way to determine what was playing at the time."

"How did you know that this wasn't broken in the struggle and placed to look like the murder weapon?" Jane asked. She knew Maura never guessed, so there had to be something she missed.

Maura did not respond right away but reached for her tweezers. Very slowly, she reached something out of the victim's jaw. It was a black piece of plastic, about the size of a button on a tape recorder. In fact, it was the stop button.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Of course, why didn't I think to check his jaw when the side of his head was beaten in." It was never the obvious things with Maura. She would check everything no matter how bad she felt. Of course, Maura getting smashed alone was worrisome to Jane. Why did Maura feel the need to drink instead of talk? Maura clearly was in no mood to talk, but Jane wasn't about to let this slide. They would talk later. "Do you think we could get a dental match?"

"It should be no problem. He has braces before. His alignment was still messed up in the back. His mother should ask for a refund." Maura Isles was being literal but someone in the back of the RMV laughed. They did not know that Maura was almost a human robot. She had feelings but was almost pathologically incapable of humor that was not sarcasm or dry wit. "Let's get him back to autopsy and I can do a little more. I should be able to tell you a lot more and you can do your gumshoe thing to find his identity. I'm riding back with the body. I'll get my car later."

Just like that, Maura was gone. There were about 100 footprints at the scene. They would have to get everyone's shoes who worked at the RMV to do exclusions. Plus, there was no way to timestamp when a footprint occurred. Instead, Jane, Frost and Korsak would be cataloging the footprints by size and gender. Then, when they had a suspect, they could compare to see if the prints matched.

Even the most conservative judge would not issue a warrant based on one hundred footprints. They could also attempt to ask about weird happenings at the RMV for leads. Unfortunately, the RMV is a bit like New York City. There's too much weird stuff to remember any of it. That being said, Jane still had some fun. "Who is in charge here?" Jane enquired.

"I am." A woman in her late 50s with short brown hair, stocky build, Hawaiian t-shirt and a freshly done manicure walked up to the detective. "What do you want? I need to open this place so we don't get sued by some jackass wanting to make a ton of money. I'm supposed to be handling license suspension hearings."

Jane began speaking really slow. No one deserved to have their license suspended by this place. The RMV is about as fair as trying to beat a whole professional basketball team with one hand tied behind your back. Just about the only time the RMV loses is based on a technicality. The slower Jane spoke, the fewer people would get their licenses suspended by a cold, heartless bureaucracy. She attempted to make each word its own sentence. "I. want. every. person's. footsize. fingerprints. bloodtype. Driver's license number. Driving record. Personnel file. If they work here. AND…" Jane paused to let all that sink in. "AND. I. want. every. angry. Letter. To. The. RMV. In the past year."

The woman did not appreciate Jane stalling over every word. "I'll make sure you have to dot every T when you get your license Miss… Rizzoli. By the way, hell no to your request. Get a warrant for everything but the angry letters. Oh wait we burn those. So. Go. Rot. In. Hell." The woman added the last part just to try to show Jane how annoying she was being. "My name is Gladis Scwartz. Maybe you can try again to be civil when you come back and clean up this mess."

"Gee, is that anyway to treat a public servant? We both get yelled at all day long, so why can't we just get along." Jane snarled.

"Because "getting along" to you people, means special treatment. No one is special in my book. Get your little carny show out of here and don't come back unless someone important is dead here."

"Someone actually did die here." Frost chimed in. "He looks kinda like you."

The woman seemed taken aback by what Frost had said. She leaned over the body and gasped. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. Whatever you want, send Frost and I'll give it if you can. That's my son. Eric. Eric Scwartz." The woman began to run off. "If you'll excuse me…."

Before anyone could stop her, she was gone. She was probably calling in a replacement. At least some people know how to do that, Jane mused to herself. Since they had an identification, they could search the victim's apartment. That certainly beat cataloging shoe prints. They could have Frankie do that.


End file.
